Combination hair curling and straightening iron



June 23, 1970 M. L. PORTER 3,516,420

COMBINATION HAIR CURLING AND STRAIGHTENING IRON Filed Feb. 20, 1957 FlG. 1

. I I iNVENTOR.

|O MYRA' L. PORTER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,516,420 COMBINATION HAIR CURLING AND STRAIGHTENING IRON Myra L. Porter, 629 Valley Road, Reno, Nev. 89502 Filed Feb. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 617,253 Int. Cl. A4511 7/00 US. Cl. 1327 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pair of elongated jaws and handles connected at one of their ends by crossed, pivotally connected connectors for moving the jaws toward and away from each other upon corresponding movement of the handles, plier fashion. One jaw is round, in transverse contour, and is formed with a row of closely adjacent flat-sided parallel slots on the side facing the other jaw to receive hair positioned between the jaws and the Other jaw is of concave-convex cross contour with the concave side complementary to and in engagement with the portion of the bar in which the slots are formed, when the jaws are in closed position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of invention The invention is in the general class of hair devices and more specifically in that of hair curlers and straighteners of the crimping-jaw type.

Description of prior art Hair that is kinky recjuires straightening and curling in order to enable styling the hair. Heretofore the straightening of the hair has been accomplished by use of a straightening comb in which a substantial amount of heat is applied and after the hair is straightened the curling is accomplished by a curling iron in which heat is again applied, and at a higher temperature than in the straightening step. A single application of heat to the hair, if properly applied, may not be detrimental to the hair, but a double application, one following the other, is detrimental. Furthermore, where the hair filaments are relatively flat in cross sectional contour, and are drawn over or held against a fiat base in the straightening operation, they tend to stick to such surface and in many instances do stick, making the operation difficult and causing injury to the hair at times.

With the present invention the above objections are overcome, in that the hair is both straightened and curled in one operation with no more heat than in the single hair curling step and at no greater length of time. Also, the hair does not tend to stick to the iron.

SUMMARY Broadly, and briefly, a pair of elongated jaws is provided. These jaws are to be heated in a conventional manner, one of the most usual way being to insert the jaws into a small electric oven made for that purpose. The jaws are connected for movement from an open, hair receiving position, to a closed position, after the hair is positioned between the jaws extending transversely thereof. In the closed position the jaws are parallel and alongside each other, and the structure of their adjacent sides is such that, when they are in closed position and a tress of hair is between them, the hair filaments of said tress are substantially uniformly divided to be in a row of open ended passageways that extend transversely of said jaws with said passageways surrounding the separate groups of hair filaments of the tress at a point adjacent to 3,516,420 Patented June 23, 1970 the scalp of the wearer with the tress projecting from said open ends of said passageways.

In the method, the jaws are rotated as a unit while holding it adjacent to the head of the person, so that the hair progressively slides through the heated passageway in substantially heat transfer relation to the heated walls of said passageway, from the scalp end of the tress to the outer ends, and is progressively wound around the heated jaws as it passes from said passageways, thereby substantially simultaneously straightening and curling the hair with one application of heat.

THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the combination hair straightener and curler, in closed position, the dot-dash lines indicating a jaw in the open position.

FIG. 2 is a greatly enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the portion of the lower jaw shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the iron in a position adjacent to the scalp with hair between the jaws of the iron preparatory to the straightening and curling operation.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of a modification of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The words upper and lower as applied to the jaws of the iron are used with respect to FIG. 1 in which there is an upper jaw 1 above a lower jaw 2, both jaws being straight and elongated and of the same length.

The phrase side-by-side relation as applied to the pair of jaws, means that the jaws are alongside each other, although they may be superposed one above the other or laterally alongside each other.

The jaws 1, 2 when in closed position (FIG. 1) are in parallel side-by-side relation, and crossing connectors 3, 4 connect one of the ends of the pair of jaws with one of the ends of a pair of vertically spaced elongated handles 5, 6.

A pivot 7 connects the connectors 3, 4 so that the jaws 1, 2 will be moved toward and away from each other upon movement of the handles toward and away from each other, plier fashion. This arrangement is old in curling irons, although in the present instance, the handles 5, 6 should remain a sufficient distance apart when the jaws are closed, for receiving one or two fingers of the hand grasping the handles, to enable moving the handles apart by said fingers upon relaxing the grasping pressure of the other fingers of the hand on the handles.

Handles 5, 6 include extensions 7a of irons 1,, 2 integral with the latter, and cylindrical, stiff tubular outer coverings 8 of material having poor heat transfer characteristics are rotatable on said extensions. The coverings 8 on extensions 7a are held between ferrules 9 adjacent to the connectors 3, 4 and caps 10 secured on the outer ends of said extensions, the caps 10 also being poor heat conductors. The coverings and caps protect the hand grasping the handles against injury or discomfort from the heat of the iron or jaws 1, 2. Also, the rotatable covers 8 facilitate rotating the iron during a hair curling operation.

The lower jaw 2 (FIG. 2) may be cylindrical and may be approximately one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. In a hair dressing establishment, irons of different diameters may be used according to the quantity and length and texture of the hair being straightened and curled, and the jaws may be from approximately three to four inches in length. These dimensions and other specific measures or proportions that may be given hereinafter are not to be considered restrictive of the invention. They are given by way of examples that have been satisfactory.

Lower jaw 2 is preferably a solid metal bar, and the upper side of the jaw 2 is formed with a row of transversely, extending, upwardly opening slots 13 (FIG. 3) providing transversely extending teeth 14 between the slots of each adjacent pair thereof in the row. Teeth 14 are of uniform thickness which may be approximately 2" with the slots being approximately 76 wide. The opposite sides of the teeth 14 are parallel; each side is planar with said opposite sides being in planes that are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the lower jaw. Normally the teeth 14 are as thin as possible, but sufiiciently thick to provide adequate stiffness to resist distortion or bending under actual and severe usage in a hair dressing and hair styling establishment. By this structure and arrangement, the hair filaments of a tress are substantially uniformly distributed between the teeth substantially in a layer of uniform thickness between and against the flat, opposed sides of the adjacent pairs of teeth. There is no pressure against the hair filaments, hence no flattening of or distoltion of said filaments, and each layer of hair between each adjacent pair of teeth is of substantially uniform thickness so that the hair filaments are uniformly heated. The fact that the sides of the slots are of substantial depth and length subjects the hair filaments to heat from a substantial area as it is moved through the slots, as will later be described.

The bottoms 15 of the slots 13 are convexly curved from end to end commencing at said ends at points that may be at a level below the axis of jaw 2 when the slots 13 open upwardly, and the arc of the curve is flatter than the cross sectional curvature of the outer surface of jaw 2 with the highest point between the ends of the slots being approximately at the said axis. The surfaces defining the bottoms of slots 13, at their ends may be continuations of the outer convex surfaces of the jaw 2, as at 16 (FIG. 2).

The upper jaw is of uniform thickness and its concave lower surface that faces jaw 2 is smooth and will substantially engage and follow the outer edges of teeth 14 when the jaws 1, 2 are in closed position.

The row of slots 13 and teeth 14 may terminate slightly short of the outer end of jaw 2 and the surface 18 of the outer end portion of jaw 2 that is opposite to jaw 1 is curved transversely and longitudinally of the lower jaw to the outer end of the upper jaw, and the outer end of the upper jaw along its sides may be correspondingly curved at 19 to facilitate positioning the iron adjacent to the head of a person without likelihood of jabbing the head.

In operation, the operator holds the heated iron in one hand by the handles and opens the jaws by movement of the fingers between the handles, and positions a tress 20 of hair between the jaws 1, 2 at a point adjacent to the scalp, after which the jaws are closed by the handle gripping hand so the hair will be between the teeth 14, and will extend away from opposite ends of slots 13. The iron is then rotated in a direction, such as clockwise in FIG. 2 so that the hair is progressively wound around the iron from the scalp outwardly, finishing with the outer ends of the hair outermost. During this movement, the hair slides 'between the teeth or through the slots, and to prevent binding or excessive tightening of the coil of hair on the iron, the jaws are slightly oscillated during the winding step by movement of the fingers between the handles causing oscillatory movement of the handles. The hair is straightened by the heat in passing between the relatively wide flat surfaces of the teeth and is further straightened and also curled by being wound around the convex outer surfaces of the jaws. The word straightened is used to refer to the removal of kinks in the hair. The hair must be curled after the hair is straightened in order to enable it to be styled.

The intermittent loosening of the strand due to oscillation of the jaws enables the hair filaments between the ends of the slot to expand and to be adjusted to receive heat from the fiat sides of the teeth as the strand is wound on the iron and contributes to the straightening of the hair, as well as preventing objectionable tension being applied to the hair filaments in the winding operation. In this connection, it is pertinent to note that in a hair curling operation with conventional hair curlers, the hair is wound on the curling iron from the outer end of each tress.

The word tress as used herein refers to any group of hair filaments positioned between the jaws of the iron whether long or relatively short, and irrespective of the portion of the scalp from which the group is taken.

Referring to FIG. 5, the main difference between this iron and the one illustrated in FIG. 2 is in the cross sectional contour of the teeth. Said teeth are designated 23 in FIG. 5, and they are uniform in cross sectional contour with their outer edges 24 extending convergently relative to each other from their ends 25 so that the teeth taper from said ends toward a medial point along the jaw 1, although the outer end edges 26 of the teeth follow the circular cross sectional concave contour of the jaw 5. The edges 27 of the jaw 1 are spaced from the ends 25 of the slots between the teeth and from the points where the teeth join the solid body 28- of the lower jaw. The portion of said body at the ends of the row of teeth 23 are cylindrical, as in FIG. 1 so that the convex surfaces of the jaw 1 are supported on unslotted cylindrical portions 29 of the jaw outwardly of the ends of the row of teeth.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair straightening and curling iron consisting of:

(a) a pair of elongated jaws in side-by-side relation,

each having a handle at one of their corresponding ends in extension thereof and connectors in crossing relation pivotally connected together respectively rigidly connecting each jaw with one of said handles for movement of said jaws toward and away from each other from a closed position to an open position only, and vice versa, upon corresponding movement of said handles,

(b) one jaw of said pair being substantially cylindrical in cross-sectional contour on the side opposed to the other jaw, and the other jaw being concaveconvex in cross-sectional contour With the concave side being semi-cylindrical and facing said one jaw for receiving the portion of the latter facing said concave side therein in engagement therewith when said jaws are in said closed position,

(0) a row of parallel, closely adjacent, pairs of outwardly opening, flat-sided, slots formed in the side of said one jaw adapted to be received in said concave side of said other jaw with said slots positioned in planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said one jaw and extending from side-to-side of said one jalW,

(d) the portions of said one jaw between the adjacent pairs of slots in said row providing adjacent pairs of teeth, each tooth having continuous, flat surfaces on opposite sides equal to the depth and length of each slot and defining the opposite sides of the slots between adjacent pairs of teeth, and a bottom wall for each slot extending from side-to-side of said one jaw,

(c) said sides and bottom of each slot and said other jaw cooperating to define the walls of passageways extending transversely of said jaws and open at their opposite ends at opposite sides of said one jaw for enclosing a portion of a tress of hair at a point adjacent to the head of a person with the hair of said tress divided among said passageways and enclosed in each passageway at said point when said jaws are in closed position whereby, upon bodily, simultaneous rotation of said jaws in the handsof the operator while supporting them adjacent to and rounded at said ends to join the convex radially said head, the hair of said tress will be successively o ter curvature of said one jaw, drawn through said passageways and wound about a other l termlnatmg 1n us ysaid jaws to straighten said hair and to form a curl, tendlng l from 531d PP eflds 0f the and a covering on each handle rotatable thereon to 5 bottoms of said slots to define one of the s1des of the facilitate said rotation of said jaws when said handles open ends of Sald passageways. are in a hand of the operator. References Cited (f) sald teeth being solid and havlng radially out- UNITED STATES PATENTS wardly facing arcuately extending edges in engagement with and following the contour of said con- 10 1,411,817 4/1922 Torrent 13232 cave side of said other jaw, when said jaws are in 23625081 11/1941 Yven 1327 closed position, FOREIGN PATENTS (g) the depth of each slot in said rows being progres- 16,907 2/1914 Great Britain.

sively greater from the ends of said slots to the 15 center thereof with the bottom of each slot con- ANTONIO GUIDA, Primary Examiner vexly curved substantially from end-to-end thereof MCNEILL, Assistant Examiner 

